Miami-orlando Unity Vital To Olympic Bid

THE SPORTS COLUMN

August 5, 1993|By Larry Guest of The Sentinel Staff

Stop The Presses!! Bigwigs of the Miami group seeking Olympic soccer matches of the '96 Atlanta Games contacted their Orlando rivals to urge cooperation in the effort. Cooperation?? Between Miami and Orlando? Gee, what a novel idea. The reason for all the chumminess is the prospect of convincing Atlanta Olympic brass that placing games in two Florida cities would make the soccer competition even more appealing to foreign as well as domestic fans, plus give the state of Florida double reason to get involved in financial or other areas of support. Furthermore, Sam Stark, the Florida Citrus Sports staffer coordinating today's presentation to a 7-member Atlanta site delegation, said Jose Rodriguez of Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) called the other day to affirm the possibility of a dual Florida site award. Jose cautioned against making any negative comments about the Miami bid to the touring delegation. What could hurt Orlando's bid is the apparent absence of a ''sweetener'' above and beyond the basic financial ticket-revenue split prescribed by ACOG. Word is that Birmingham has a $3 million bonus from the city and county - much of which would have to be spent on converting Legion Field from artificial turf to grass - and the Miami group has assembled a $500,000 bonus kitty from it's various public and private entities. . . . Washington Huskies coach Don James says he's glad one of his players was named to Playboy's preseason All-American team ''because that's the only way my wife will allow me to buy a copy of the magazine.''

Atlanta Braves GM John Schuerholz said he sought to acquire San Diego slugger Fred McGriff not only because of what he could contribute with his own bat, but because of the lifting effect he could have on the whole team. ''I just didn't realize just how much or how quickly he could accomplish that,'' Schuerholz gushed over the weekend after McGriff had raised his Padres average 18 points and led the Braves through a 9-2 road trip. ''He has caused the other players on our team to relax and stop putting so much pressure on themselves, individually.'' . . . Little Bird Dept.: Pete Rose has been cruising Orlando scouting potential sites for another restaurant in his budding chain. Way I hear it, you can bet the eggs over or under. . . . You can tell football season is near because UFlorida's Steve Spurrier has already put foot in mouth. At a recent gathering of Gator boosters in Jacksonville, Spurrier applauded city officials for pulling the plug on their NFL expansion bid. Most of the UF boosters were practically wearing black armbands over the development and made it clear they didn't appreciate Spurrier's apparent self-serving remarks. . . . Birmingham sports scribe/pal Paul Finebaum has ranked the SEC football coaches with Alabama's Gene Stallings and Spurrier 1-2. He places ex-Bama coach Bill Curry, now the keeper of the UKats, at the bottom. Finebaum says of Spurrier: ''He is one of the great minds in the game of football. It might be difficult for Florida to hold on to this guy long.'' All things considered, don't know if I could put Stallings ahead of Spurrier.

Baseball didn't ask me how to run its business, but I can't sit idly by any longer. Not with Vince Coleman's mortar attack on the fans going unpunished by either the Mets or the Non-Commissioner's Office. Not with TV ratings slipping 50 percent in a decade. Not with labor relations heading down the toilet again. Not with, well, we don't have enough space to list all of the disturbing developments in a once-great sport that has become almost completely rudderless. I'm cheering for the parents of the little girl in L.A. who say they're going to sue Coleman, et al, for the injuries in that M-100 attack. Obscene court awards normally make me cringe, but a nice fat judgment against Coleman, the Mets, Eric Davis, etc., might be just the thing to throw a lasso over rampant player misbehavior that has escalated from Deion Sanders' ice water to Bobby Bonilla's bodily threats to the Mets' Mystery Bleach Monster all because the Non-Commissioner, the league brass and the individual club officials have been too gutless and greedy to hold their pampered players accountable. Baseball is our game, and the jerks entrusted with the patient are rushing it pell-mell toward cardiac arrest. Hire a strong commissioner, you creeps, and get out of the way.

MY NEIGHBOR WOLFGANG sez his college daughter is homesick, but she'll soon return to school.